"I want to deal
with one great evil that is afflicting society today. The capitalist
and the Zamindar talk of their rights, the labourer on the other
hand of his, the prince of his divine right to rule, the ryot of his
to resist it. If all simply insist on rights and no duties, there
will be utter confusion and chaos.
"If instead of
insisting on rights everyone does his duty, there will immediately
be the rule of order established among mankind. There is no such
thing as the divine right of kings to rule and the humble duty of
the ryots to pay respectful obedience to their masters. Whilst it is
true that these hereditary inequalities must go as being injurious
to the well-being of society, the unabashed assertion of rights of
the hitherto down-trodden millions is equally injurious, if not more
so to the same well-being. The latter behaviour is probably
calculated to injure the millions rather than the few claimants of
divine or other rights. They could but die a brave or cowardly death
but those few dead would not bring in the orderly life of blissful
contentment. It is, therefore, necessary to understand the
correlation of rights and duties. I venture to suggest that rights
that do not flow directly from duty well performed are not worth
having. They will be usurpations, sooner discarded the better. A
wretched parent who claims obedience from his children without first
doing his duty by them excites nothing but contempt. It is
distortion of religious precept for a dis­solute husband to expect
compliance in every respect from his dutiful wife. But the children
who flout their parent who is ever ready to do his duty towards them
would be considered ungrateful and would harm themselves more than
their parent. The same can be said about husband and wife. If you
apply this simple and universal rule to employers and labourers,
landlords and tenants, the princes and their subjects, or the Hindus
and the Muslims, you will find that the happiest relation can be
established in all walks of life without creating disturbance in and
dislocation of life and business which you see in India as in the
other parts of the world. What I call the law of Satyagraha is to be
deduced from an appreciation of duties and rights flowing therefrom."